Sunshine
by Ms.TamborineMan
Summary: Cyrus, after having his plans dismantled by a kid, travels to Kanto seeking employment at Silph Co. Before long, they discover the red chain and advertise it as their own, attracting every villain within 10,000 miles to the company. Luckily, Team Rocket has just re-banded, and Aqua and Magma are ready to destroy Hoenn. Hardenshipping. Absolutecontrolshipping. Megashipping.
1. Prologue--Back in Business

**AN: Written for shits and grins. Rated T for my potty mouth. Lots and lots of gay material (that's all I seem to be able to write) and not meant to be taken too seriously. Nothing too serious, so read for the sheer joy of it. Thank you, readers! **

**Summary: Cyrus, after having his plans dismantled by a kid, travels to Kanto seeking employment at Silph Co. Before long, they find out about the red chain and advertise it as their own-drawing every villain within 10,000 miles to the company. Luckily, Team Rocket has just re-banded after a three year dormancy, and Aqua and Magma are ready to destroy Hoenn. **

**Hardenshipping. Absolutecontrolshipping. Megashipping. Gayness galore.**

* * *

Prologue-Back in Business

"I am going to Saffron City," Cyrus had told his commanders. "To seek employment at Silph Company. I am hoping that there I will discover a new technology, one that will allow me to again summon the beasts of time and space..."

They had been sad to see him off. The commanders of Team Galactic adored their boss, and all that he did to achieve a goal. Persistent, certainly. Emotionless? None of them really cared. And so, in their leader's absence, Team Galactic became dormant, in waiting. And Cyrus made a journey to the region of Kanto.

In Saffron City, he rented an apartment wit the meager sum he had brought with him. Cyrus was not a wealthy man, but planned on staying in this city for the time being. It was dark when he finally arrived in, and lights blinked and burned on the sides of the streets. He did not have much to unpack-all he had brought with him was a suitcase and his pokemon. There was, however, a radio in the apartment, and after he got in bed he switched it on, closing his eyes to listen.

"This is the radio tower!

This is the radio tower!

We are pleased to declare Team Rocket's revival. Giovanni? Can you hear us? We have finally made it!"

The person on the other end carried on, but Cyrus turned it off. Was this radio in Kanto? If so, it sucked. Besides, who cared about Team Rocket? Certainly not the Galactic Boss. They had nothing to do with his final goal, and thus were insignificant.

* * *

Meanwhile, at his secret base in Tohjo Falls, someone was listening. The dark man smiled at the transmission, laughed, even.

It was time. After three years, it was time.

Giovanni left the cave and walked out past the sound of roaring water, Honchcrow in hand.

* * *

The next morning, Cyrus found himself in front of a desk in Silph Co.'s office building. He had cleaned up nicely, he supposed; or at least he hoped he looked okay in this black suit and blue tie.

"May I help you?" asked the attendant. Small. Pretty. Not that he took any notice.

"I am here seeking employment," he said.

Her eyes seemed to light up. "Oh. For the position! Of course, wait over there." She pointed to a chair near the wall as she whipped out a headset and put it on. She spoke into the speaker, but Cyrus didn't hear-he just went over to stand by the wall, briefcase in hand. His icy blue eyes landed on a piece of contemplative art hanging on the wall. Interesting, he decided, but worthless.

"Um," the woman said after a couple of minutes, prompting him to turn his head toward her. "You can...sit...if you want to."

"Thank you," he replied, "I am fine with standing." No matter that his final plan was to destroy the world and make a new one; he should still be polite in the meantime.

Soon enough, three men walked up, dressed spiffily in polos. One-seemingly the youngest, offered his hand with a wry smile. They shook.

"Hi," he said. "You looking for an interview?"

"Yes," he said.

"Alright," the man said, grinning and patting his shoulder. Cyrus frowned, slightly, at the motion of affection. "Right this way. We'll have to use the stairs; the elevator's broken."

About thirty minutes later, Cyrus was sitting across from the three men at a hard oak table. At the beginning of the interview, they'd been skeptical-perhaps, wondering who exactly Cyrus thought he was, with hands clasped in front of them. Now, though, they were like little schoolboys, fidgeting with the gadgets Cyrus had made.

A hi-tech translation device, a couple of communication devices, and a non-working replica of the red chain. He wondered briefly to himself why he had brought the third item, but figured that it would be necessary in securing the position he desired.

"And what did you say this does?" asked the man on the right, running the red gems through his fingers.

"That is merely a replica," Cyrus said, "But a working model is used to control pokemon without capture. I have found, and you will likely agree, that pokemon are more powerful when they have not yet been captured."

The three looked up simultaneously, then shared a glance. The one in the middle snatched up the chain.

"Gimmie that, Brandon," he muttered to him, then turning to Cyrus, he grinned and stuck out a hand. Cyrus took it.

* * *

Sirens were blaring from somewhere in Goldenrod. Police were after someone-someone who could not possibly be as bad as this man. Why were they wasting their time, Giovanni wondered? He was the one they should really be after.

It had just rained, and the Team Rocket boss was stalking toward the Radio Tower, wearing a black hat and a smile, down slick and shiny black streets.

He took his hat off as he reached the building. Ah. How quiet it seemed from the outside.

Time to go in. He pushed the doors open.

On the inside it was a lot louder. Two people were battling, one he recognized.

"This Radio Tower belongs to Team Rocket! There's no way you'll take it from us!" Yelled Archer, "Crobat, Wing Attack!"

The other battler looked a lot younger, maybe twelve. She wore a big white hat and had brown hair. Giovanni frowned, recalling his hatred for young trainers, and that kid, three years ago. He winced-that still smarted.

"Ampharos, Thunderbolt!" she cried.

Giovanni reacted quickly, cracking open a pokeball with a flash. He laughed as Rhyperior formed, and the lightening bolt bent away from Crobat.

The girl whipped around. "Huh?!"

Archer cried, "Giovanni!"

"Rhyperior," Giovanni said, flipping a hand up. "Why don't you show this Ampharos an Earthquake?"

Rhyperior cried and raised its arms to the ceiling. The ground shook, lights flickered overhead.

"Yes!" Archer shouted, as the girl sent back her Ampharos, teeth gritted in distress, "Yes, yes, yes!"

"Get out of here, girl!" Giovanni shouted, pointing towards the door, "This is Team Rocket property! We're back in bidness, boys!"

And so it was with the two evil bosses-one in Kanto, the other in Johto. Back in business, and shit was about to go down.


	2. Chapter One--Drinks

**AN: A little context, here. **

**This story takes place in a timeline like this: **

**3 years before: Events of Red/Blue**

**Recently finished: Events of Platinum/Diamond/Pearl, Events of X/Y **

**Happening now: Events of Black/White**

**Yet to start: Events of Soul Silver/Heart Gold, Events of Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald**

* * *

Chapter One-Drinks

Cyrus was still getting used to working in an office. He had co-workers now, and took orders instead of giving them. That irritated him-but only a little bit, as Cyrus was not a very irritable man anyway. A necessary evil, he supposed.

Thinking this, Cyrus filled another plastic cup with water from a jug. It was 09:00 in the break room, and most of his co-workers were filling up similar cups with coffee, a substance that the blue-haired boss had little taste for. He was just on a short break-he was about to leave to continue building a prototype of the product is boss had described, some sort of electronic device used to record pokemon cries. He swept out of the room after draining the cup, tossing it in the trash on the way out.

Unbeknownst to him, all of his colleagues' eyes feel on the door even after he left. A blonde girl at the coffee machine turned to a man stirring his with a straw.

"Who is he, anyway?"

The man shrugged, taking a drag. "Boss called him Cyrus."

"He has nice hair," the woman said, dreamily.

"Sure does," he agreed. "Bet mine could look like it, too."

The woman gave him a slight smile. He grinned back with white teeth.

"Sure," she said, turning back to her drink, "With just a couple more gallons of hair gel."

* * *

All hair gel aside, Cyrus was working in his natural habitat. His boss-he thought his name was Tony-had him stationed in a capacious, dark room, lined with tables spaced evenly apart and an array of tools at each. Right now, he was the only one here, and finishing up the simple project he had been given last week-build the recording device. Blueprints were laid neatly in front of him, but now he was done looking at them-all he had to do was screw on the back cover.

He didn't pay attention as Tony entered the room, throwing shadows in slanted light as he rounded the corner to Cyrus's station. He had his hands pressed firmly into his pockets, thumbs out.

"Cyrus!" he said.

"Yes."

"How's it going?" he stopped.

Cyrus put the recorder on the tabletop in front of him. "It's done," he answered.

"Excellent, excellent." Tony said, picking up the recorder. "This looks great."

"Do you have another assignment for me?" Cyrus asked, turning to his boss with a slight sigh.

"Uh, actually, no, see..." he turned over the device in his hands, then looked up. "Cyrus, I'm interested in your products. I want you to...well, you know what I mean."

"No," Cyrus said. Why did people always have to speak in riddles? Irritation stirred in his stomach, spurred by the odd nuances of emotion he still hoped to eliminate. He reminded himself again why he was at Silph Co., not because he enjoyed working for Tony but because he had purposefully stationed himself at the forefront of technological advancement.

Tony's hands waved in small circles. "Making other people's designs is beneath you. I want you to write up a report for one of your won products. Start with that chaining thingy. I'm sure it'll be a hit."

"That's..." Cyrus began to say, _"not in my job description", _but Tony cut him off with a pat on the shoulder.

"Good deal," he said. "Write it up for me and get it to me by the end of the day."

Tony handed him a leaf of papers seemingly out of air, smiled, and swept out, happy with his newest employee. Cyrus flipped through the papers in equal parts bewilderment (where the hell did they come from?!) and frustration.

* * *

It didn't take long at all for the media to catch hold and spread Silph Co.'s new design far and wide. Silph hadn't had a firm advancement in a while, so they certainly talked up Cyrus's Red Chain, writing in an article that it would definitely be used for good, to "harness the full power of pokemon." No way could it not be used for good, never mind the original reason Cyrus had made it. The boss of Team Galactic was quite irritated with the whole ordeal; he had come to work on the ideas of others, not to replicate his own. He wasn't even sure if he could make another working red chain, and had told Tony as much when he handed in those stupid papers. But now here he was, obligated by the news to do so.

But, he wondered in exasperation, what else could he do? Maybe he should've been asking himself that question more, because the newspaper carrying the article found its way to Johto like the plague, and quickly dropped right into Giovanni's hands.

"Boss, take a look at this," Archer said, handing his beloved Giovanni a copy of the paper. They had moved out of the Radio Tower, relocating to the underground Headquarters in Mahogany. The entire organization was abuzz...of course, they had just gotten a leader again. The man then ran a hand through his silver hair, as Giovanni read it over.

"This looks useful," he said, spinning the scotch in his glass. "Find out who the creator is. And how I can find him."

* * *

Meanwhile, in Slateport...

"Archie," Maxie sighed, "What are you doing?"

They were at the little soda shop on the beach. Archie loved this place and was really the reason why the Team Magma Boss was here, because although they completely hated each other they were good friends also, and Maxie liked keeping up with him because, ah, what was that wonderful phrase? "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer"? Maxie believed in that, and believed in keeping the dumb ass Archie very, _very_ close.

Now, for some reason, he had left their umbrella'd table and was hunched over some distance off over someone's newspaper in a little blue Archie ball.

"Nothing," he called suspiciously.

"Oh come on Archie," Maxie complained, taking an angry drag of cool, sweet, bubbly brown liquid. His cheeks turned red-he could feel them creeping to the color of his hair. "I know you're reading something."

"Reading?! Ha!" he laughed heartily, tipping his head up. "Maxie, when have you ever seen me read?"

Maxie rolled his eyes. "Archie, really? Come back here this instant. I'll-" his eyes darted to Archie's untouched glass-"I'll drink your soda!"

"Oh hell no!" Archie cried, and in an instant was back over at the table, dropping the paper in a flurry on the glass table to snatch up his drink. Maxie grabbed for the paper.

Soda suddenly shot from Archie's mouth. "Hey!" he cried. "You tricked me!"

"Oh calm down. I just wanted to read."

Archie testily took a few short sips, but sat down. Maxie read on-something about a new invention at Silph Co., one that could harness the full power of pokemon...

"Ah," he said after a while, slamming the paper down, turning back to his soda, and taking the straw in his fingers, "We don't need anything like that. Probably works no better than the red and blue orbs."

"We don't?" asked Archie, who was now calmly sitting across from him, staring at him steadily with those blue eyes of his, lightened somehow by the navy of his shirt.

"We don't." Maxie assured him. Although...perhaps...

It seemed pretty legit to me," Archie said, adamant. "I didn't really understand it, but..."

Maxie shook his head. "It's Silph Co., for Groudon's sake. That joke of a company hasn't created anything useful in years."

"Nope," Archie said, grinning. "Arr, Devon Corp for the win!"

Maxie chuckled softly, then blushed again. Archie! That damned water loving bastard! He always seemed to have this effect on him; never failed to make him feel as if he were about to suddenly keel over with a heart attack in one instance, then infuriate him the next.

"Man," Archie said, leaning closer, "That was one instantaneous sunburn, Max."

"Shut your impetuous mouth!" Maxie said, "And do not call me Max!"

Archie dissolved into a puddle of giggles. Maxie returned to his drink.

* * *

"The inventor's name is Cyrus, sir." a grunt reported. Giovanni was standing, leaning in the doorway, his Persian making slow circles around him. He handed him a packet of papers. Giovanni read.

"Cyrus!" he said suddenly. "Ha!" he chirped a laugh. "That Cyrus?!" He flipped the page. "Unemotional son of a bitch! What the hell's he doing in Kanto?"

"No clue, sir," the grunt said. "You know him?"

"Yeah, but he doesn't know that." Giovanni replied. "This is perfect! Thank you...uh...uh..."

"Richard, sir."

"Richard!" he snapped. "Now go away." With that, he closed the door.

He immediately called Archer. "Archer!" he said.

"Yes, boss? What can I do for you?"

"You. Me. A trip to Saffron City. Meet me outside in thirty minutes."

"Ah-Saffron? And me? Don't you think-"

"Don't question me!" he yelled. "Thirty minutes. Be there."

He punched the call off, and slammed his drink on the desk.


	3. Chapter Two--Arrests and Bake Sales

**AN: So I've been pretty busy, and now is the first time I've gotten to get on in a while. Sorry for the long wait! I will try to be better from now on. **

* * *

Chapter Two-Arrests and Bake Sales

Cyrus was supremely irritated. Damned Silph Co.! He wasn't even sure if he could replicate the Red Chain. He wanted to get this incident over as quickly as possible, but that didn't seem likely, since this was going to take him quite a while to sort out.

He had the non-working replica sitting on the table in front of him. He stared at it, not even knowing where to begin. Finally, he sighed and stood up.

Suddenly, a slip of paper caught his eye. Cyrus, being the organized man he was, always knew when something was out of place.

This was out of place.

He leaned back over to take the paper, then straightened up and read.

"I know who you are," it read. "I know what you want. And I want you to work for me."

Cyrus immediately shook his head. Stupid people, going about their pointless lives, he thought, one practical joke at a time. He ripped the paper in half and left the room.

* * *

"Hey guys," Saturn said, whipping into the break room in Veilstone, "This is odd."

"What's that?" asked Mars.

"Your face?" asked Jupiter.

Saturn pinned her with a glare. "Really?"

She smiled in response.

He shook his head. "Anyway, no. This-" he stuck out his hand, newspaper clutched firmly, "Is odd."

Jupiter sighed as she took it, crossing her legs and pursing her slick lips. Mars leaned in to read it.

"You're too close," Jupiter muttered.

"Like you mind," Mars snapped back.

"Oh whatever. Just read the damn thing," Saturn said, blushing as he waved them on.

"So, Silph Co. has releases a new design...something about a chain harnessing the power of pokemon...wait." she put it down. "This sounds an awful lot like the red chain."

"That's what_ I'm _saying!" he cried. "Why would Boss want to do that?"

"I dunno," Jupiter said. "Maybe to raise funds?"

"Yeah," Mars said. "That sounds a lot more profitable than the bake sale."

Jupiter shuddered at the thought of the bake sale. "_Never_ again."

"It wasn't that bad," said Saturn, sounding confused. Obviously, he'd gotten a different impression from everyone else.

"That's because you like baking," Mars said.

"No," he said, "It was because watching Cyrus sell cakes was probably the best thing ever."

"Heh, heh," Mars grinned. "Like when he told that guy to buy a cake or rethink his reason for existing, because he was accomplishing nothing but taking up space?"

"Or when that girl was worried about buying one because it would make her fat?" Jupiter grinned.

Saturn shook his head with laughter. "He...he said, 'why should you worry about something you already are?'"

"Oh my Arceus, he got slapped so fast!"

"The look on his face afterwards, though!"

"Dude, what an idiot." Jupiter said, shaking her head with a grin. "I miss out boss."

"Yeah, me too," said Saturn.

"I wonder what he's doing."

"Yeah, me too."

* * *

He was being arrested.

"Legs out. Further, further..."

"How far do you want me to spread my legs?!" Cyrus asked, outraged. "And I believe I have the right to know why I am being arrested!"

"What was that?" the policeman was talking into a speaker. "Alright, boss." then to Cyrus, "That's enough."

"Of course it is," he snapped. "You policemen, always having to have the approval of your bosses..."

The handcuffs snapped into place, and the cop behind him tugged on the chain.

"Perfect," he decided. "Now, come with me."

He tugged again, more forcefully this time. Cyrus clamped his jaw shut and heel-toed his feet back together, mind racing. What had he done? He'd walked out of Silph Co. about half an hour ago, walked down a couple of blocks...could he really have committed an offense in that span of time?

The officer yanked him back, then shoved him to the right. "Walk," he ordered.

He walked. "Officer," he began.

"Shut it, Cy."

"Cy? Who do you-"

"Boss wants to see you. I know you saw the note."

"The note." he deadpanned.

"Yup," he chirped, turning him into an alley between two decrepit buildings. "He likes your hair."

"Of course," he muttered. _My hair_.

Ahead of them, a shadow shifted. A man stepped out, wearing a black coat and a black hat. It wasn't until the "officer" stopped him him right in front of him that he saw the man's brown eyes, glittering in the dark.

"Who are you?" he asked. "Where are you from?"

He looked very amused when he answered, "You don't know me? I should be offended. Then again, Cyrus, you have had your head in the clouds, over there in the hick region of Sinnoh. Ever heard of Team Rocket?"

He shook his head. "No, I have not."

"Quite unfortunate," he said, taking Cyrus's chin in his hand, "But unsurprising. You got my note, didn't you?"

"That-" it was more of a statement than a question, but Cyrus's nerves were drumming, unusually, so it came out all wrong-"Was you."

"So you did. And your response?"

"I have no desire to work with you, or with anyone else in this region."

"How cute," the man said, moving his hand to ruffle his hair, annoyingly, "You think you have a choice."

"There was no point in phrasing it as a question," Cyrus said, "If I did not have a choice."

"Your logic's useless here, boy," he said. "I'm the logic in this town, and the rest of Johto and Kanto. Name's Giovanni, and I'm your new boss."


End file.
